Advanced Imaging Across the Lung Cancer Care…

The American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable has named four advanced imaging technology areas as priorities for development. For teams building AI-enabled imaging and diagnostic products, the more immediate signal is where reimbursement is already moving.

The commentary

The American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable has published a commentary in Cancer setting out priorities for advanced imaging across the lung cancer care continuum. The Roundtable's Advanced Imaging Across the Lung Cancer Care Continuum Task Group identified four advanced imaging technology topics as priority areas for development:

Novel imaging technologies
Quantitative imaging biomarkers
Systems for sharing image data and/or algorithms
Imaging-related artificial intelligence solutions

The commentary provides background for each priority topic, describes key clinical problems along the lung cancer care pathway as use-case scenarios, and comments on the challenges that impede implementation and dissemination of these advances.

Richard A. Frank, MD, PhD, Frank Healthcare Advisors, is among the commentary's authors.

Why it matters now

"Progress in these 4 priority areas already is being manifest in CPT codes for Software as a Medical Service in Radiology — and in Digital Pathology, which is emerging as a fast follower in Oncology. Track the Summary of Panel Actions from 2026 — Feb, May, and, soon, also the September Panel meetings, as a key inflection point for innovators and investors."¹

— Richard A. Frank, MD, PhD

Priority areas signal where a field intends to go. Coding activity signals where it is already being paid for. For innovators and investors evaluating AI-enabled imaging and diagnostic products, the AMA CPT Editorial Panel's published Summary of Panel Actions is a practical place to watch that shift take shape.

Notes

1. Software as a Medical Service (SaMS) is terminology proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, not a variant of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD). In the CY2027 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule, CMS proposed replacing "Software as a Service (SaaS)" with "Software as a Medical Service (SaMS)" to refer to software-based technologies that support clinical decision making through algorithmic analysis, including those that provide clinical or diagnostic functionality. The rule also proposed maintaining existing new technology APC assignments for SaMS through CY2027 as a transitional step, and creating a new status indicator "O1" for SaMS paid under OPPS with separate APC payment. This is a proposed rule; the comment period closed on August 31, 2026, and the provisions are not final. ↩

Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System — proposed rule, Federal Register, July 7, 2026

Public inspection copy (SaMS discussion at pp. 457–462)

Sources and references

Sullivan DC, McNitt-Gray M, Aberle DR, et al. The American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable strategic plan: Opportunities in advanced imaging across the lung cancer care continuum. Cancer. 2026;132(16):e70516. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.70516
AMA CPT Editorial Panel — Summary of Panel Actions: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/cpt-editorial-panel/summary-panel-actions

Advanced Imaging Across the Lung Cancer Care Continuum: Four Priority Areas — and Where Reimbursement Is Already Moving

The commentary

Why it matters now

Notes

Sources and references

CPT Appendix S: The Missing Link Between AI Innovation & Reimbursement

FDA ESG NextGen: What It Means for Medical Device and SaMD Companies

FDA's Shift to Risk-Based Inspections: What MedTech Companies Need to Know

Have a question about this topic?